Monday, September 30, 2013

In 1994 my friend Jennifer assured me that some day in the near future, we would all have computers at home that we would use for everything. I didn't believe her. I couldn't imagine it. Now, my screen is a daily window on the world.

I love the internet and not just for the cute kitten photos, but I love them too.

I love Facebook. Who cares if that dude from my junior high basketball team is eating sushi in Sacramento right now? I do. That girl I worked with at a restaurant in 1987 just published a thriller? I'm interested. These are stories.

I love Instagram and the peek into the lens-eye of people whose lens-eyes I enjoy. I'll look at your babies and puppies and enchiladas and sunsets and all of the other stuff that makes life good. Picture stories.

I love blogs. I love the niche blogs (Mormon stockpiling moms, guy who posts photos of ephemera he finds in old books) as well as the old-fashioned slice-of-life personal journals. I love the friends I have made in these blog homes. I love the stories they tell.

I love Ebay and buying used stuff online because I do not like malls but I might like that sweater with the cute collar that you don't wear anymore. My things have had a life before me, a story.

I love the tiny film festival that is Vine. Perfect for my attention span and my schedule. Six second stories.

I love Twitter and the challenge to convey or digest a succinct thought. A limited novella of a story.

I love email. Letters delivered in an instant. Stories. Now.

I love YouTube. I will watch a cat dressed as a taco riding a Roomba or a full length U2 concert. More stories.

I love Pinterest because as long as it exists, I never have to buy another lifestyle magazine. Or cookbook. I am interested to see what other people are interested in. Pins are portals to other stories.

The computer does not take the place of real life, it enhances it. I love the universe that is handed to me every morning when I open my laptop. I am a sucker for words. And music. And faith. And animals. And snacks. And art. And people. And stories. I love the stories.

37 comments:

"Mormon stockpiling moms"!!! Ha! I love this phrase. I'm going to use it the next time I hear a Relief Society lesson (that's the Mormon women's organization) on emergency preparedness and "getting our 2 years' supply." Hilarious.

Yes m'am. Exactly! I think of what my life might have been like when I was a young mother and coping was what I barely did, day in and day out, if there had been this window, this way to communicate and express. I think I would have suffered a lot less depression.

Yup. Lots of humanity out there -- enhancing our lives. I'm currently enthralled by my neighborhood Yahoo group. The daily email digest of postings includes a wealth of stories, like the Peruvian engineering student who's seeking part-time nanny work, the retiree who's angry about the theft of his clay donkey yard ornament, and the woman who's offering up free seeds from her grandmother's heirloom tomatoes. Good stuff.

And have you been on etsy? Love that so much. I never do my Christmas shopping at a actual store anymore. I buy all my gifts from small businesses (via etsy) and don't have to deal with Christmas craziness! And the gifts are more unique and usually cheaper!

Yes! Exactly! I try to explain to family members who laugh at my blog reading that a good writer is a good writer. These are like newspaper columns of writers I like only it is better because there are more to choose from, a wider variety of subjects, and comments can sometimes be as entertaining as the post.

There is good and bad content in each online channel. The nice thing about this content is you have ways to filter out what you don't want to consume and just focus on what you DO want to consume!